Spring Break Vacation to Thailand Part III

Tuesday we woke up a bit earlier and went to breakfast.  Then we ordered a taxi to take us to the Khao Phra Taew rain forest.  It is a national park that has a hiking trail through the last remaining rain forest on the island.  We had a hard time convincing our taxi driver that it was where we wanted to go.  Most people go to see the waterfall that is there, but the waterfall is about dried up at this time of year.  We told him that we just loved to hike and wanted to see the forest, so we finally convinced him and he took us. We had to pay 600 Baht (about 20 dollars) for entrance to the park and our taxi was 1600 Baht for the round trip and to wait for us while we hiked.  The trail through the park follows a stream and is about 2 kilometers.  The trail was quite rough in places and there were a few very steep areas where we had to climb up and down into the ravine where the stream cut through the volcanic mountain (inactive) where the forest is located.

Pond at the base of the trail into the rain forest.

A bird (ibis?) at the pond.

Starting into the forest on our hike.

Hiking up the trail and under the trees.

Reading about the fungus of the forest at one of the 14 information stations.

Some of the fungus we saw.

Large bamboo stand within the forest.

The girls had a fun time.  In general we do love hiking, and the girls learn a lot about rain forests in their books and school, so it was fun for them to see the forest up close.  We saw some fun wildlife on the trail.  We found a spider that looked like a feather or a bird poop.  It was white and feathery and could jump very far - about two or three feet!  We also saw three different large lizards, lots of different butterflies, ants large and small, and little fish and water bugs in the stream.  Probably the most fun thing that we found was a little red forest crab!

Forest crab - Nika spotted it first. 

The little white fluffy thing is a spider that can jump!

Trail of ants across the trail.

One of the three lizards we saw.  Two were like this, and one looked more like a snake.

One of the termite mounds we saw on our hike.

The trees in the forest are neat.  They have large skirts on their bottom to help buttress them against the wind.  Some of the largest trees are comparable to the redwoods that we saw in Muir woods in San Francisco at this time last year. It took us about two hours to do the hike from start to finish.  Our driver was waiting for us and dropped us off right at the doorstep.  When we got home we changed and swam in the large pool for a couple of hours before embarking on our next adventure.

Hiking next to a tree with a skirt.

This interesting vine that is embedded in the tree.

Large tree with a skirt. 

Making our way through the rain forest!

Showing the size of the trees. 

What's left of the waterfall in the dry season.

Lexa loved these palm fan leaves!

Emerging from the forest.

When we checked in we were asked if we would be willing to sit through a ninety minute presentation about the Marriott Vacation Club.  They would watch our kids and we could receive a free gift.  We figured that it would be a time share type of deal, but were promised that it would not be a high pressure sales pitch.

Jane took our picture while we looked at the JW Marriott Resort property.

We arrived and had a nice time getting to know "Jane" our saleswoman.  She showed us around the resort and talked to us about the various properties that Marriott owns around the world.  The high pressure part came when the manager came to try to seal the deal.  We had to say no a number of times.  They just couldn't understand why we didn't want to spend $50,000 dollars over the next five years to ensure an "inflation free" lifetime of vacations in the future.  We finally convinced them that no means no, and we left with our gift certificates for $130.00.

The evening shuttle (Jeepney) that is larger than the day shuttle. 

Filling up the shuttle.

Fire ceremony at the kids' pool area.

We shuttled back and forth a few times to find a place to eat.  We did get to see the traditional fire show.  We had dinner at our hotel's restaurant.  It was twice as expensive and twice as slow as the Thai place where we had been eating.  The kids had non-Thai food (fish and chips and Pizza) and we had Thai.  The dinner was free with our certificates.  After dinner we went to bed because we had our biggest adventure of the week planned for Wednesday.

Waiting for dinner to start (or waiting for what seemed forever)!

Wiping the kids out with our vacation fun!

Spring Break Vacation to Thailand Part II

Monday, March 23, was our second day in Phuket, but our first full day. We let the kids sleep in and we did the same.  We got up and took the shuttle to the other Marriott property where there is a cafe that serves a buffet breakfast.  We got a 30 percent discount and the twins eat free, so we got a good deal.  The breakfast had a wide variety of tropical fruit, omelet and pancake stations, as well as a Thai noodle soup station where you can make your own soup.  In addition there is a wide variety of other breakfast and other foods available.  The kids also loved the wide selection of juices and smoothies.

Riding the shuttle to the JW Marriott and breakfast.

Breakfast!

After breakfast we came and played in the main pool at our property.  It is about twenty meters from our back door, so quite convenient.

Sophie jumping into the pool.

Sophie doing a cannonball.

Swimming in the pool.

After swimming for a few hours, we walked down to the beach.  The waves and current were a bit stronger than the night before and so we limited the kids to wade up to their knees.  They are getting better at swimming, but none of them are really strong yet.  I didn't got out much past my waist because the current was quite strong.

At the beach.

Finding shells.

Lexa intent on finding the best shells.

Looking out across the Indian Ocean.

Sophie with the Sand Castle.

Hard at work.

Sophie buried in the sand.

Oh heck, sand up to my neck!

The kids managed to spend about three hours at the beach playing in the sand, finding shells, and wading.  We came home and swam in our pool for about 45 minutes or so before giving the kids showers and going out to dinner.  We went to the same Thai cafe for dinner, and then went to Swenson's Ice Cream for dessert.  By the time we got home it was after 8:00 and the kids were beat, so they went straight to bed.

Dinner at the Thai Cafe.

Turtle Village hanging out.

Eating ice cream to end a long and happy day.

Spring Break Vacation to Thailand Part I

In October we booked a vacation to Phuket, Thailand.  It seemed like it would be a long time away when we booked it.  We had the cards paid off for it in December and we were busy living.  And then March came, and it was a reality that we would really be heading to Thailand for our first tropical vacation.  It is also the first real non-travel vacation, or a vacation where we just go and stay in one place for a long time that we have ever taken.

Our flight from Astana left at 9:30 on Saturday evening.  We ordered a minivan taxi to pick us up at 7:30.  We left our dog, Yuki, with our friends, grabbed our three suitcases and two backpacks and headed for the airport. Our friend, Chris Keeley was traveling to Bangkok for a training session for the US embassy, so we waited at the airport with him.  Our flight to Almaty was uneventful.  In Almaty we had to walk to a different building outside.   Almaty was above zero (Celsius), had no snow, and had green grass.  Astana has been hovering around zero (Celsius) and some days had gotten plus enough that the snow and ice began to melt, but there is still plenty there.

Waiting in Almaty for our connection to Bangkok

We waited for a few hours before boarding our flight to Bangkok.  That flight was full, but nice.  We really like the Kazakh airline, Astana Air, because they have a bit more leg room than most US carriers. That extra two inches really makes a difference in comfort for tall people like me.  The kids slept a bit, watched the television, and ate their snacks/dinner on the flight.  We landed in Bangkok at about 9:00 a.m.  The airport was huge and we got a bit lost trying to make our connection - we had to go through passport and customs before making the connection.  We had plenty of time, so we were okay.

After checking in to our next flight and going back through security, we went to eat with the girls.  We went to McDonald's since our kids were quite broken down after a sleepless night and we knew that they would be happier with something familiar.  We had a nice slow lunch and then went to our gate.  We were still a few hours early, so Yulia and I stretched out and rested while the kids played.

Lunch at McDonald's at the airport in Bangkok

View of a garden from our table at McDonald's

Our flight to Phuket was only about an hour long and we were served a nice snack lunch on the way.  When we landed we had to get our checked bag.  It did not come out on the carousel, so we were a bit worried.  Then an airport employee told us that we could pick it up with the international bags.  We had checked it all the way through, so it went to a different carousel and we had to walk through customs with it.  Success!

Our Thai Airways flight to Phuket.  Happy travelers!

We found the taxi company holding up our name on a sign and then took a minibus to the Marriott resort.  It turns out that there are two Marriott resorts and we went to the wrong one.  It was okay - we were treated nicely, given a cold towel and a cold drink, and then driven on a golf cart to the correct resort about a half mile down the road.

Riding the cart to the correct Marriott resort (Marriott's Mai Khao Beach).

We were asked at check in if we wanted to upgrade to a room with a private pool for an extra $30 a night.  We thought, why not?  So we did that.  We were in a two bedroom suite with a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundry.  It's about the size of our apartment in Kazakhstan! We let the girls put on their suits and swim in our pool for about an hour.

Swimming in our private pool.

Our living/dining room in our suite.

After swimming we walked down to the beach and we all waded a bit and saw the sunset. Then we went and found a place to eat.  We found a little Thai place that is like a chain restaurant for Thai food.  We ordered and loved everything that we tried.

Walking to the beach (about 300 meters) from our room.

Kids, meet the ocean!

Wading.

The water is so warm - even warmer than our pool at our apartment.  It's fun to play in the surf.

After that it was home to our suite for a well-deserved Rest.